Jordan Hill is a diagnostic technician with ASE Master Tech including L1 and L3 credentials. With over 23 years of experience in the industry, Jordan has worked in several shops and has developed some interesting ideas about how independent repair shops can use some of the quality-control practices commonly found in the manufacturing world. In this episode, Jordan explains how some of the self-improvement concepts often used by large corporations can be adapted to the independent repair shop environment. In the first of a two-part series, Jordan begins with a look at the Andon concept and what it can do to help improve any repair shop operation. Listen in as Jordan discusses:

• His background and qualifications as a diagnostic technician.
• What the Andon concept is and how it works.
• How we think of Quality Control (QC) as the final step in a manufacturing or service procedure, when it really should be in everyone’s job description.
• Tracing QC history to Sakici Toyoda’s automatic loom.
• Making QC the cornerstone of your “fix-it-right-the-first-time” shop culture.
• The advantages of adapting Andon principles into the shop production system.
• Defining roles and responsibilities in a QC program.
• Recommended reading: “The Toyota Way,” by Jeffrey Liker and “The Fifth Discipline,” by Peter Senge